August 28, 2008 by pmelcher.

As I was walking down the street in Manhattan earlier today, avoiding other busy pedestrians thinking about work, I noticed a bumper sticker I had never seen before. On a red background, it read : “Save the Mountains”.  Not sure if it was a serious one but regardless, it made me wonder. How come we haven’t seen a “save photography” or “save photographers” sticker yet. After all, the industry is  in more danger than mountains.

Here are a few reasons:

- Overcrowding : Like anything that we human beings like too much, we tend to use it and abuse it until there is nothing left. We are over fishing, over farming, over driving, and in the process, killing everything associated. Photography, thanks partially to Flickr, but also digital, is not only everywhere, but done by everyone. Boundaries between pros and amateurs are melting faster than the polar ice and everyone that use to have a job directly related to photography is in  more danger than Polar bears. It is not just photographers bearing the weight of the overcrowding of this field. Photo editors are also being laid off as magazines or newspapers are either shrinking or shutting down.   Photo agencies will soon also suffer from the saturated market and will start reducing staff as they will not be able to sustain their growth. After all, if photographers are seeing lesser commission, you can be sure that agencies are making less revenue.

- Technology : No one needs a photo editor at Flickr. Why? because Flickr edits itself. Newspapers website are shrinking down and more and more relying on wire service feeds. Just post the feed as it comes in, or automated it. Not very hard to do. No one really needs so many photographers either anymore.  Remote control cameras now cover what took a sleuch of photographers to do. And they don’t complain. Amateurs are shooting as well and can now very easily contribute. Although not yet successful, it would not be hard to see an agency entirely made up of amateurs. Heck !, you could get the Olympics, or the Conventions well covered by amateurs, if you organized yourself well. Thousands of eyes in every different position possible. Imagine the possibilities.

- Intellectualism : Some of our best publications have been taken over by over thinking. In a desperate effort to differentiate themselves from the commons, they  have been taken over either by “new” photojournalism or “new” fine art. Nouveau Photojournalism, we have spoken about. Holga happy reporters who seem happiest in images where you see the less. Nouveau Fine art has taken the opposite approach and is hyper realist. Close up images of uncooked eggs, deserted parking lots at night fall with heavy greenish tungsten light,  snapshot-looking photography with visible flash effects, anything that looks desperately real and slightly unappealing is in fashion. Both agree that if the image disturbs you in any manner, than it must be good. Especially if you think it is a bad photograph. Then, it is probably genius.

- Microsoft : It was a good world when Microsoft did not care about photography.  We were all left to build our own digital world with whatever tool we wanted. For a while, we had to deal with Adobe’s monopoly on photo editing, but that was disappearing. However, recently, The big Redmond giant has been working its way into the field. And we all know what that means. Nothing will ever be the same anymore. No need to explain more ( Corbis anyone?).

- Blogs and opinions : Everywhere and everyone has an opinion. Everyone is an expert. Everything and nothing is written about photography. It is exhausting. It is all over the place and nowhere. Someone should regulate it. For once thing, all the old farts that have been teaching photography in colleges for more than 20 years should be forced to retire and certainly not allowed to blog. They are frightening.  Anyone that has not sold or licensed images for a living should not be quoted on professional blogs because they try to take pictures in places where it is not allowed. It is pathetic. All these blogs are screaming for attention and readership and will write almost about anything as long as they do it everyday. Including publishing boring press releases on the size of a collection. Its obscene. stop it. It is okay not to write anything if there is nothing to say or not to publish a press release because it is stupid. Yes, I know, I do not have to read them.

All these are reasons to start a “save photography” movement. We could have fund raising parties with Karl Lagerfeld as our Keynote speaker and dance the night away. Have cool hats and T shirts with our logo. and finally, make bumper sticker that I could stick on my car…if I had a car.

who is with me ?

Posted in technology, commercial stock, magazine, multimedia, editorial, flickr, corbis | Print | 1 Comment »

July 29, 2008 by pmelcher.

Genius juxtaposition of images, endearing story, human, lively, photographically compelling, wonderful storytelling, the Mediastorm team does it again .

See it now before someone tells you about it:

The only negative is the music that always seem to be the same on all multimedia these days: a  lonely piano with an echo followed by a lonely string acoustic guitar. But who cares ?  When you look at it, it seems that all the pieces were made to fit prior to assembly. It looks so easy to do. And it is not. Makes you wonder how further photography can go beyond the traditional magazine layout. This is also what photo editor should learn to do if they want to keep their job relevant.

Posted in mediastorm, magazine, technology, multimedia, newspaper, editorial, photojournalism, news | Print | No Comments »

July 15, 2008 by pmelcher.

Outside of the beaten path of wire services endlessly pouring at the same endless flow of images, there are islands of beauty. One of those, untouched by endless years of relentless competition, is photo agency Aurora. True to their initial vision, Aurora keeps on showing the world that true and great photojournalism can co-exist with a selfish capitalistic world. The images are beautiful, the topics not always made for easy viewing and the passion and dedication of the photographers almost medieval.

For those who were not at Look3 in Charlottesville last June 2008 as well as for anyone who believes and think that photojournalism is dead or dying, here is a little clip Aurora did on 9 of their photographers :

Posted in magazine, lens, Aurora, multimedia, photojournalism, slideshow, wire service, editorial | Print | No Comments »

July 10, 2008 by pmelcher.

As per a press release of today : “Open Text Corporation (Nasdaq: OTEX; TSX: OTC), a provider of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software, has acquired eMotion LLC from Corbis Corporation of Seattle, Washington. Open Text purchased the division for approximately US $5 million, net of cash and assets, effective July 2, 2008.eMotion is a provider of hosted business applications for managing digital media assets and marketing content. eMotion is headquartered in Seattle and has an office in Rockville, Maryland.

Corbis acquired eMotion, Inc. of San Francisco, California for an undisclosed amount in July 2005.

Corbis is a visual media provider for the creative community, licensing the widest array of award-winning contemporary, historical and entertainment photography as well as extensive collections of acclaimed illustration and footage.

Waterloo, Ontario based Open Text is a leading provider of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software solutions. It offers a wide range of ECM products that help its customers ensure compliance with industry regulations and internal policies, controlling information flows, and helping solve other content-intensive business challenges. Open Text currently employs approximately 2,700 people worldwide.”

end of press release.

credit Techfinance.com

In 2005, Scott Wilson, CEO, eMotion said : “Corbis and eMotion’s services are a natural complement,”

Mmm. I guess not. At least not long term.

“Our clients are increasingly seeking ways to manage the still and moving imagery they use in their creative projects,” said Mark Sherman, about the deal, senior vice president of assignment & representation and emerging businesses at Corbis, at the time.

I  believe he got fired since.

One year later Business Week Magazine added ( 2006):
“A year ago, finishing off a year when revenue rose 20%, Corbis’ leaders confidently predicted that they would turn the company profitable. That didn’t happen. Instead, organic revenue growth slowed to 4%, though overall growth topped 34%. The total take was $228 million, thanks to the company’s mergers and acquisitions spree. (Getty Images grew 17.9% to $733.7 million, mostly organically, and pulled in $150 million in profits.)”
Ouch !!

the  same article continues:
“Corbis’ acquisition spree was partly aimed at placing bets in emerging markets. For instance, last July the company bought eMotion, a provider of hosted digital-asset management software. Yet image licensing remains a dominant part of its business. To boost profit potential, Corbis is beefing up its own collections and the custom-photography service, which involves assigning photographers to capture images. “end of Business Week Magazine quote.
You remember that guy from Star Wars Episode I ?  The Rasta guy with the tongue sticking out after being caught in the electric field of  Anakin’s pod racer ( do i sound like a geek right now?) ?

Well, whatever his name is, that is the Corbis management right now: tongue sticking out saying : blabadabaaaadabadaaaaa. Bladaabadaaaaaaaaaa.aaaaaaaaa.

Corbis ex- CEO, Steve Davis said, according to the Corbis press release, at the time: “In 2005 we doubled our global footprint ( How the hell do you double a footprint ? With bigger feet ?)  and rounded out our content and service offering. As a result we are the only company in the industry with the ability to provide comprehensive solutions—great content, the rights to use it, and the ability to manage it.”

And  I should add, big feet …

Shouldn’t someone have smelled E-Motion footprint at the time,because, apparently, it smelled bad. Certainly, not the sweet smell of success.

By the way, how much is a “footprint” going for these days ? 1 dollar a footprint ? what the hell is a footprint in photography ?

Gaaaaaaaaary ? any idea ? where is Gary anyways?

There he is (or was):

British Journal of Photography july 4th 2007, reports ( almost exactly a year ago):

“Days after taking on his role, Corbis’ new CEO has slashed 160 staff in 17 offices worldwide.

Gary Shenk took over from Steve Davis on Monday (02 July 2007), but the decision to cull 15% of the company’s workforce was announced late last week. The job losses are as a result of a three-month strategic review, led by Shenk and his management team, which is driven by the ambition to pull Corbis into profitability for the first time.”

and probably out of the “footprint” business.

the article continues :

“Corbis is also to sell its Digital Asset Management (DAM) division, which currently manages media libraries for large corporations. The service, which was officially launched only last summer (BJP, 16 August 2006), came about after the acquisition of eMotion in 2005. Like the Assignment Division, it has been performing well, says Perlet, and has won 25 new customers in the last 12-18 months.”

I guess ( actually, I know) Corbis hates, just painfully and  physically hates, anything that performs well.

E-Motion:

Bought in 2005,

analyzed in 2006,

destroyed in 2007,

sold in 2008.

Welcome to the club, dude.

Corbis  does it, again

Posted in Canada, technology, commercial stock, multimedia, No sense, corbis, transaction, finance, getty | Print | 1 Comment »

July 3, 2008 by pmelcher.

You should interrupt everything you are doing right now and head immediately to aurora@15.com. Jose Azel and his team invite you to a year long birthday celebration !!. Based on the Surrealist’s “Cadavres Exquis” ( exquisite corpse) game, the rules are quite simple : one random photographer shoots an image and post it on the site. Once posted, a randomly selected photographer has 48 hours to post another image related in some ways to the previous one. And so on.

Called Action/Reaction, it will go until the end of the year.

It could have used a comment box or some other way for viewers to interact but it is still an exciting exercise. Go on now, go check it out :